When I first heard the news about Carlos Delfino, I was pissed. (Like, for real — I dropped 30 F-bombs in a row before stopping to explain to my wife, and then resumed with another 15 before being told I should calm down. I didn’t, though, I just dropped them in my head.) I still haven’t “come around” on the trade, so to speak, but I’ve at least opened myself to several silver-lining scenarios, namely, the entrance of Amir Johnson into the rotation.
But Chris McCosky wants to hear none of that (emphasis mine):
On another matter, I have also heard people say that this trade makes room for Amir Johnson. Not really. Though the Pistons tried to turn Johnson into a small forward, it didn’t work. The consensus in the organization now is that Johnson has to be a power forward. He’s just not comfortable out on the perimeter. Whatever role Johnson earns next season will be in the front court. And I am telling you, there is a major division within the organization about Johnson’s future. Joe Dumars and John Hammond believe the kid could be something very special. Some on the coaching staff believe he will never be more than an end of the bench reserve. Coach Flip Saunders has steadfastly refused to make any final determination, giving the 20-year-old ample time to mature. But Johnson has to get stronger. He has to get tougher and he has to start showing some court judgment. He still relies on his inate athleticism to get him through. He forgets plays and assignments. He has enough physical tools to make an impact. But he has to learn how to play the game — otherwise, he could end up like Rodney White.
If Dumars and Hammond like him and Saunders is on the fence, where’s the major division? Is Terry Porter not sold? Has Dave Cowens soured on him? (And has anyone even heard Igor Kokoskov speak?) Aside from when I idly sit through their small talk with Eli Zaret coming out of halftime, I don’t think I’ve ever wondered what one of those guys have to say.
And for that matter, if there are guys on the coaching staff willing to secretly trash The Future by undermining his ability to the press, can ‘em. Assistant coaches, even those with head coaching experience, are a dime a dozen, and not undermining the front office should be a prerequisite for the job.
(Hat-tip: Full-Court Press)
What I don’t understand, and this goes back to Larry Brown is this: “Isn’t Joe D the boss?”
What i mean is, if Joe really wanted Amir to play does it matter at ALL what Flip Saunders or his assistants think about the subject? Time and time again we come into the offseason with management and in particular Joe claiming “The younger players will get more burn, I guarentee it” and yet we end EVERY offseason with a short rotation and 25 mins a game of Lindsey Hunter. As I recall this was ONE of the major reasons that Flip was hired, a willingness to listen to Joe and develop the team. Two seasons in, i’m still waiting.
I think we need to SERIOUSLY consider the possibility that Joe is saying what we want to hear in the media, but the on court facts are our young players AREN’T good enough to get any burn and Joe absolutely KNOWS this. Amir included. I’m not saying it’s definate, but there is a REASON none of these “potential” guys gets any playing time and I’m having a hard time buying that it’s “None of the coaches listen to poor old Joe D.” I mean come on, Dumars would tear Saunders a new one on player cred ALONE let alone the fact that he’s the man’s boss. Plus think about it from Dumars’ point, if you knew A) the team just came up short and the fans are dissapointed and B) the tank was completely empty re: the future… would YOU tell people that in an end of season news conference as a General Manager?
Something is amiss in Piston land guys, I mean this.
June is a time when things are either 50% better or 50% worse than reality, as news-starved fans and media happily drive themselves crazy. Everyone take a breath of the nice summer air and relax.
I had a dream that Amir Johnson dunked on Greg Oden and then pointed to the pistons bench in the direction of Cheikh Samb who gave a thumbs up with a smile.
I then woke up to my alarm clock and got mad.
Agreed, Lanierfan.
If Amir ends up as a journeyman frontcourt player in this league, he has still exceeded the expectations of his draft slot. The “Amir Johnson as a slow-developing Kevin Garnett” talk only sets us up for disappointment.
That said, it sure would be nice.
A friend of mine wrote this at PF.
“With McCosky it’s sometimes difficult to separate his inside info from his oft inaccurate judgement calls.”
I wouldn’t read too much into this. The most accurate and well researched Detroit beat writer is Krista Jahnke. When she starts reporting the same thing, then we have cause for concern.
Didnt Drew Sharp at the Free Press say that the Delfino move helps things for Amir?
If Amir doesn’t get into the rotation due to Flip Saunders, I will punch Flip out myself.
“he could trun into Rodney White.”
That’s a bucnh of bullshit.
Rodney White never did AH damn thing on this team. I never saw him get more than 10, or make any sort of impressive defensive plays. However, I did see Amir score 19, with multiple blocked shots, in THE FOURTH QUARTER.
I also saw him score his first NBA points on a bench-clearing, windmill dunk. That was cool, but what was impressive about it, was that he followed it up with a nasty block (or was it vice-versa? I forgot)
Either way, the kid has crazy upside. He could be Tayshaun with more energy, and a perimeter shot.
Rodney White was a piece of garbage, on every team he was ever on. That’s why i hate this comparison. It’s not even fair. Amir is twenty, and Rodneys been in the league, and consequently out of it, for like 6-7 years. In that amount of time, if Amir is doing NOTHING, then I’m going to stop calling myself a basketball fan.
BTW…GHill off the bench w/dyess, amir, and max. EW.
I’m not sure I could handle any more Pistons related depression but call me a glutton for punishment. Someone upset about the Delfino trade please explain. I understand anger related to completly botching the 2003 draft (of which Delfino was the 25th pick) but I do not see a downside of letting Delfino go. The attribute Delfino was supposed to bring, which the Pistons need in spades, is the ability to get to, and more importantly FINISH around the basket. Delfino is athletic to be sure but the only time I saw him finish around the basket was on the break. Even a pretty dunk nets but two points. He did not or could not create his own shot unless it was a three point attempt of which he took entirely too many. Maybe he’ll be a decent bench player in Toronto but certainly not someone the Pistons will regret losing.
I caught that quote when McCoskey wrote something similar after we got the boot from the playoffs.
1) Could it be a little misinformation in the hopes that no team will offer the full midlevel and make us match it? I mean, Joe D has pretty much said that he’ll match any offer so it wouldn’t shock me a bit for a team to force our hand.
2) If Flip can’t find a use for a 6′11″ player who Dumars says is faster than Rip Hamilton (WXYT interview), can jump out of the gym, can energize the crowd and his team with dunks, works his butt off when he’s in there, can block shots, and can make free throws, then he needs to be in another line of work. For all the crap Amir gets about not being a good shooter he’s actually had some really good games shooting the ball. Everytime he’s played significant minutes he’s risen to the occasion. If Cleveland can deploy Varejao and have him actually make an impact, then there’s no reason a far more talented guy in Johnson shouldn’t be playing (especially since he could make just as big of an impact by bringing his energy when he’s on the floor).
If those comments about our coaching staff are accurate, then I have even less confidence in them. And that’s impressive after they decided to put Murray and Hunter in there at the start of the fourth quarter in a tied elimination game…..
Off topic, but where is the best place to go to keep up on all NBA trades during the off-season? ESPN.com just ticks me off how they didn’t even have the Delfino trade on the top news stories (yeah so it’s not a huge trade, but it was one of the first as far as I know).
If someone could recommend a “one-stop shop” for everything that is the NBA off-season (ie - trades, signings, firings, and hirings) that would be awesome.
Thanks!
It’s a small sample size, and mostly during garbage time, but Johnson has produced impressive numbers, including about 3.6 blocks per 40 minutes. I saw the windmill dunk live here in MN, and that was pretty impressive.
At any rate, it seems like McCosky is trying to bolster his argument that Delfino is being moved to make way for Hill moreso than make any commentary about Johnson.
Incidentally, I am new to this blog, so can someone enlighten me on the importance of Delfino? He was a servicable backup, but he didn’t seem to be panning out to be much more.
Kevin, Carlos Delfino is Matt’s sister’s brother’s uncle’s cousin’s plumber’s opthamologist’s 2nd favorite player I think … or something like that.
McCoskey seems to enjoy going out on a limb … maybe he could be nicknamed “The Squirrel”. I think there’s little to see here - just McCoskey trying to grab a little limelight.
I agree, Fennis.
Actually, Delfino might end up starting for the Raps and pulling an Okur . . . and then, Toronto has to be careful with their evaluation because if he does a 17 ppg, 6 apg, 2.2 A/T, 6 rpg type of year on 30-35 mpg, Carlos will likely want a large re-sign (and could clearly get that on that qualifying offer option next summer) after strong numbers out of nowhere.
This league of GMs and their rewards for 1-time performances . . . Jerome James, Erick Dampier . . . there’s tons of deals like that, just sitting there, never reaching that contract year for results, ever again.
James, I like Realgm.com, it’s got the most complete coverage as far as trades firings hirings and signings that I’ve found.
This trade is probably about 2 things:
1) trimming 1.8 mill from our roster. If we resign Chauncey, keep our 2 first round picks, and McDyess stays, losing Delfino will probably be the difference between staying under the luxury tax limit and not.
2) Delfino probably asked to be traded and Joe D tries to be a stand up guy when that happens.
Agreed, “pistongirl4life”
I don’t understand why flip or whoever the hell is mccosky has the saying what they think or should do with amir. from my understanding, it all goes down to what joe d recommends, am i hallucinating? from my recollection, joe acknowledge in the interview that piston will bring younger players this season, “young blood” was the term if im not mistaking. i haven’t done any reading from other sources, but if this is all true, it would simply mean that flip/mccosky and joe are not on the same page also, once again, joe makes the final decision on this matter, right??? i don’t know about joe’s coaching ability but i hope we don’t have to go to the same route where miami went where pat riley had to kick gundy out and took over the coaching staff. hey, it turned out to be perfect for a year at least. hey, i can live with that.
So Amir has no outside shot - he’s simply an inside presence. Gee, the Pistons already have too much of that.
Hey James hoopshype.com is a cool site check it out…..
Yes, hoopshype is good but can be very slow to update on weekends. Yahoo! Sports is pretty good, too, at:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/trans
http://www.nba.com/transactions/current_month_transactions.html
I hope this is some kind of fake out to curb interest in Amir. Otherwise it seems pretty bogus. I mean “some believe he will never be more than an end of the bench reserve” “start showing some court judgment” “He forgets plays and assignments”??? What? That all sounds pretty ridiculous to me.
As far as Dumars dropping the hammer on Saunders in regards to playing certain players certain minutes. I think there is a fine line between telling Saunders he wants certain guys to get more or less minutes and going down to the sidelines and taking charge of his substitutions. He has to be careful of undercutting to much of his authority on the bench. Saunders semms to have enough problems as it is with these guys. Of course i’d like to see Saunders out but what are ya gonna do.
As a Bulls/Warriors fan who occasionally peruses the fine writing at DBB (gotta keep up on the competition after all) I’d like to say that McCosky comes off as a 2nd rate Sam Smith, at least in that blog post, as in not quite as adept at passing off rumors and opinion as something approaching factual.
I understand both opinions from Pistons’ fans about the Delfino trade. He was a frustrating player who tantalized with glimpses but never really put it together. My opinion is that he just wasn’t suited to the Pistons’ system and that he’ll do much better in the heavily Euro-influenced style that Colangelo wants to install in Toronto. I don’t think he’ll morph into an All Star or anything but I wouldn’t be surprised if he turns into a solid 6th Man behind Parker and Garbajosa.
And as far as Amir Johnson…he’s a dude I virtually salivate about having on either of the teams I follow. Seriously, ridiculously athletic 6-10 dudes who can block shots, run the floor, and have even a modicum of an offensive game are not easy to come by. Good Lord, Joakim Noah is going to be a lottery pick. I’d take Amir (with his current skill level, not circa 2005) over everyone in this year’s loaded draft except Oden, Durant and the more polished Horford. If I was a Pistons’ fan I’d be going nuts waiting for Flip and Co. to play him and worrying that Dumars is going to let someone else sign him away…
we collectively are, marcus. i don’t see how a 6-10 20 year old kid who is like watching a human pogo stick has no place in our rotation. and the days of our coaching staff burying our best young players HAS TO END or they can hit the friggin’ bricks. who cares if he misses a defensive assignment or 2. he’s two years removed from high school! i watch 10 year vets miss defensive assignments all the time! just play him. sign him. play him. make us happy. show us we have a future somewhere on that roster, instead of just selling off bad boys 2.0 off for spare parts.
i have so little confidence in our coaching staff, it keeps me awake at night.
delfino is going to be a great pickup for the raps. for virtually nothing. if anthony f-ing parker is playing well in toronto’s system, carlos is going to do great. unfortunately for the raps, they’re a less-talented version of the suns. if that style doesn’t work for phoenix in the postseason, then the raptors won’t be going anywhere.
i don’t think there’s any way a trade wasn’t demanded by delfino’s agent by the way. that trade seemed so thrown together.
You know, Amir merely owned the D-League. Let’s see how he develops and can translate his success into an NBA career. NEXT!!!
I think we need some Flip Saunders benchmarks for next season - some milestones to hit by the all star break (or earlier) or else we organize a public call for Lambeer to replace him mid-season. Here are some suggestions:
1. Amir Johnson has more minutes than Lindsey Hunter.
2. Jason Maxiell has no fewer than 1/2 the minutes of Antonio McDyess.
3. No starter averages more than 35 minutes/game.
What else?
This is pretty funny. All season, the Detroit News published blurbs about how high everyone was on him.
Listening to Sports Talk here in LA, Sonny Vicarro was on Steve Hartman/Mychal Thompson’s radio show.
In arguing against the the claim that college is where players learn proper fundamentals he used Amir Johnson as an example.
He said that Amir Johnson was going to be an All-Star. The hosts thought he was crazy (I don’t think they knew anything about him). They were like… You mean a Brad Miller All-Star in that he makes the team once? Vicarro said, “he’ll make All-Star games.”
He brought him up three times ending the interview saying he’ll get a mid-level plus type contract.
Well he cant get more than the MLE from anyteam this year, so hopefully Detroit locks him up for a while. He could very well be the face of the franchise very soon.